PAUL HANLON believes Hibs have finally conquered the Easter Road fear factor after stopping the panic in front of their fans.

Hanlon admits the players have been a bag of nerves in front of the Leith faithful over the past two seasons.

Hibs are unbeaten at home during this campaign but disappointingly that has not seen an increase in attendances at Easter Road.

But Hanlon insists if they sustain their unbeaten run the supporters will come flocking back.

He said: “There was real nervousness about playing at Easter Road in front of our supporters in the past but that has gone now.

“We wanted to produce good results for the fans but people were panicking instead of getting on with playing good football.

“Hopefully we can enjoy a good run of form at home this season. The attendances are slightly disappointing but the players know there is potential here to be a huge club with massive crowds.

“It just goes to show how bad the last couple of seasons really have been. We have picked up but the fans are still not coming through in the numbers we’d like.

“That’s up to the players to put right. We need to get wins on the park and we won’t win them back overnight.

“I can understand the fans staying away because we have been poor in the past couple of seasons. But hopefully we’re getting it right now. We’re unbeaten at home and if we can keep that going then I’m sure more supporters will come back.

“The fans are not expecting miracles but they appreciate the hard work and passion we’ve shown in the past few weeks. That has got them off their seats and they seem quite happy.

“Football costs a lot of money for the supporters these days. We want as many through the door as possible but we can only do that by getting results.

“If some Hibs fans haven’t been for a while I would urge them to come out and watch the team this season.

“There have been a lot of changes and we have a lot of new players and if they turn up then hopefully we can keep them for the rest of the season.

“The supporters want to see good football and decent results and we weren’t doing that last season.

“We want to try to win the fans back in numbers and we can only do that by winning games.”

Hibs host Dundee today and Hanlon knows if Pat Fenlon’s men triumph for a third time at Easter Road this term they’ll have already won more games at home than in the whole of last season.

The defender puts that down to the fact players and supporters have adopted a completely different mindset this season.

The proof of that for Hanlon came when the crowd applauded Hibs off the park despite drawing 2-2 with Inverness in their last league game.

Hanlon said: “At the start of the season one of our main aims was to improve our home form.

“It’s not good enough for a club of this size for our fans to see us win just two home games in a campaign. We want to beat that record on Saturday.

“The biggest difference for me this season is the fans clapped us off the pitch at the end of the Caley Thistle game – it was great to hear that.

“It was disappointing to lose a two-goal lead but the supporters acknowledged the hard work we put in.

“There is a mindset about the club now where we now go into matches thinking we can win rather than hoping to win that maybe we were adopting in the past.”

One man Hanlon will have to shackle is former Hibs hitman Colin Nish, who has been a revelation since joining Dundee.

Hanlon said: “Colin’s goals record speaks for itself. Although he has a big physique he is more than just a targetman. He is good on the ground as well and is an excellent football player.

“We’ll need to keep an eye on him and make sure he has a quiet game. I’m looking forward to playing against him.

“Colin tried his luck down south and is back up in the SPL and he knows how to score goals in this league.

“When he was at Hibs some days in training he was totally unplayable.”